How to hard-boil eggs

[Wazoo]

Needed: a metal pan/bowl large enough to hold eggs and about an inch more water ... a cover that actually fits that pan/bowl (worst case, a heavy/stoneware-type plate large enough to cover the top of the pan/bowl.)

Place the egges into the pan/bowl. Fill (from the cold-water faucet) with enough water to cover the eggs by about an inch. (Depending on the 'age' of the eggs, some may float. Don't worry about that. The guidance is to cover the eggs, but not allow enough space for them to start dancing around, usually leading to broken shells with leaking egg-whites)

Place on stove, light the burner. Wait until the water comes to a rolling boil (look for air bubbles showing up 'everywhere' in the whole pan/bowl) At the time the boil is at full tilt, turn off the burner. Place the cover over the top of the pan/bowl. Set a timer (most digital panel microwave ovens, most cell phones, etc. have this function) for 15 minutes. When te timer goes off, place the pan/bowl into the sink, run cold water over the eggs .. this is to 'stop' the cooking process.

When cool enough to handle, crack the shells (bang on the edge of the pan/bowl, hit on the counter, etc.) and peel off the eggshell. Hard-boiled eggs are ready to eat directly, get sliced up for salads, chopped up for mixing into other recipes, sliced in half waiting for the deviled-egg filler, etc. Any not used immediately should be placed into a covered storage container which would then go into the fridge.

[Farelf]

Not to mention the Tim Ferriss 'patented' quick-peel.

Yeah, it works (blow "with gusto" is the key - the addition of bi-carb/baking soda to the water is for wimps). Great if you really, really like to eat all the eggs yourself (dinner guests may tend to be a touch fastidious about the whole process, especially re those eggs that reach the floor - as if they've never pondered where the egg came from in the first place - or have never heard of the "five second rule" for that matter).

[Miss Betsy]

The easy way to peel hardboiled eggs is to crack them all over before trying to take the eggshell off.

BTW, I read that the 3 second rule is bogus - that germs adhere immediately. I would think that would include the 5 second rule also.

Miss Betsy

[Farelf]

...BTW, I read that the 3 second rule is bogus - that germs adhere immediately. I would think that would include the 5 second rule also.

Of course it is (bogus) - it was based on the premise that microbes don't move quickly in absolute terms. As if they would be thinking "Oooh, there's a nice bit of lunch, I think I will mosey over and get some. Should be there in a fortnight." Migratory speed is utterly immaterial - most floor surfaces have sufficient bacteria to cause significant contamination at the point of contact, as you say. Three, five or three hundred and fifty thousand seconds would have little bearing on it. Well, in the latter case that's enough time for maybe 4 generations or a 16-fold population increase but that's another matter entirely.

But that doesn't matter. We need more environmental challenges, not less. "That which doesn't kill us ..." etc. I mean, going back a mere century or so, the greater part of the populace was regularly reduced by cholera and typhoid fever and such other sundry distempers as were induced by the inimical animalcules of unsanitary habitat. And what a hardy, lusty, rowdy lot the survivors were! The crowned heads of Europe were far less affected (they always wiped from front to back and washed their hands every time). And look at them now. Poor sickly mites barely able to bestir their loins for the progeneration of their houses despite the most enthusiastic provocation and assistance of certain of the common folk in some abundance. I mean, what was naming the second-in-line (for the job of BRITT: OMN: REX) "Willy" if not wishful thinking and a little whimsy?

Aye, if all this sanitation keeps up we shall be no better, we'll all be doomed, mark mah worrrds.

[turetzsr]

<snip>

" ... a fortnight."

...For those in the Western hemisphere: that's 15 days. <grin>

The crowned heads of Europe were far less affected (they always wiped from front to back and washed their hands every time). And look at them now. Poor sickly mites barely able to bestir their loins for the progeneration of their houses despite the most enthusiastic provocation and assistance of certain of the common folk in some abundance.

<snip>

...But that would be due more to a relatively high rate of interbreeding than in spite of relative hygiene, wouldn't it? <grin>

[Farelf]

(" ... a fortnight.")...For those in the Western hemisphere: that's 15 days. <grin>...

Well, "fourteen nights" (and days) in the common heritage of our English tongue ("Two peoples divided by ..." as someone once said). Goes back to when the day began at dawn - as it still does for some/many.

...But that would be due more to a relatively high rate of interbreeding than in spite of relative hygiene, wouldn't it? <grin>

You could be on to something there - I saw, in an episode of "Who do you think you are?", that Boris Johnson is descended from the Hanovers. Some find it difficult to look at, or listen to, Boris without the term "degenerate" instinctively coming to mind. While that is a totally unscientific test, it may be indicative of a deeper truth.

[turetzsr]

<snip>

Well, "fourteen nights"

<snip>

...Oops! I confused "fortnight" with the Spanish "dos semanas," literally, "two weeks," but in practice meaning 15 days (http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=660299).

Boris Johnson is descended from the Hanovers. Some find it difficult to look at, or listen to, Boris without the term "degenerate" instinctively coming to mind. While that is a totally unscientific test, it may be indicative of a deeper truth.

...Never heard of Mr Johnson but there's the classic case of the hemophilia of Prince Alexei of Russia.

[Farelf]

....Never heard of Mr Johnson...

Some might envy you that (just kidding, but he is deemed by the stodgy Brits to be a 'colourful' character) - he's the Lord Mayor of London and the link I gave leads through the story of his royal connections. Not to mention a further link from there to the story of his turbulent and tragic Turkish ancestors. All of which had been pretty-well forgotten by the present family.

... but there's the classic case of the hemophilia of Prince Alexei of Russia.

Ah yes, from Queen Victoria's line, perhaps a Hapsburg/Habsburg legacy along with 'the Hapsburg lip', 'the Hapsburg jaw' and a propensity for conversing with vegetation. No, no, (on reflection) I think the haemophilia thing is possibly different, one of those spontaneous mutations passed through the maternal line to male descendants (but not passed on by them) which is not gene 'concentrated' by close cousin marriages. I'm not sure. Well, I'm sure I could beat Miss Betsy in shelling an egg. And I'm sure talking to trees is perfectly normal.

[QuantumMechanic]

I find poaching an egg in clingfilm is fairly fool proof. (found it on a Rob Manuel webpage)

[Wazoo]

I find poaching an egg in clingfilm is fairly fool proof. (found it on a Rob Manuel webpage)

Quick instructions;

line a cup with (microwaveable) cling-wrap

crack the egg into the cup

tie the wrap closed above the egg (leaving as little air as possible)

drop the whole package into boiling water and poach for approx. 4 minutes

remove and untie it

unwrap the egg onto a plate

For the real deal and comparisons (small language issue) see How to poach an egg

[Farelf]

I find poaching an egg in clingfilm is fairly fool proof. (found it on a Rob Manuel webpage)

For the real deal and comparisons (small language issue) see How to poach an egg

The key here is microwaveable clingfilm (but I guess one would only make the mistake of trying the 'regular' stuff once), even so I would have some reservations about regular use of it in actual contact with the food. Meeting some regulatory/advisory authority's standards for the "migration of plasticizers from cling-film" is one thing - and direct contact (even if at only 100°C/212°F) is another. The good news is it is certainly safe for regular long-term use by politicians, ministers and directors of public health departments and the CEOs of microwaveable clingfilm manufacturers and their respective immediate families - in fact it should be compulsory.

[william_]

clingfilm is just cellulose?

[Farelf]

clingfilm is just cellulose?

Then it wouldn't cling. Many types, many uses - read the recommended uses, trust the manufacturer (not to lie) and the good-intentioned but ultimately arbitrary standards. http://www.foodplast.com/index.asp?page=31 Life's a lottery, there are worse things around than cling film. But I still wouldn't regularly use any of it as a 'cooking vessel' (in contact with the cooking food). I can't see that any of it is tested and certified in that service That's maybe pushing the envelope.

Been let down too often by 'emergent technology', old enough to remember DDT, thalidomide, etc. as well as those that are 'good' then 'bad' then 'good' again (for how long?), like gamophen soap. If we didn't evolve with it, there's a risk which somebody has deemed 'acceptable'. That's fair enough, none of us would be here if those risks were not taken all through the ages. Knew an MD once (one of a whole multi-generation family of MDs, not a crank) who earnestly cautioned against the use of aluminium cookware. Just about everyone (including me) ignored him. In the end we make our own calls. A tractor fell on him, still not sure what his 'point' was. Probably similar to my hesitation about cling film. Won't go into the discussion of "temperature", averages, transfer rates, chemical reactions and concentrations - at the end of the day it is, apparently, very low risk - and anyway we don't (most of us) get to choose the risk that ultimately takes us out.

One simply follows one's 'nose' and hopes for the best. There's no evidence that higher levels of concern materially increase survival - to the contrary stress is a killer. Be alert but not stressed (seem to have heard similar, somewhere ...). Won't go into norms and deviations and herd-species survival and lemmings either, too hard (for me) and too boring for most.

And this is a long way from egg poaching. I've seen army kitchen staff, some not even trade qualified, some with very ordinary intelligence levels on casual observation, who could poach perfect eggs 'the old way'. All of them could. Consistently. Perhaps we're overthinking this? The herd went -> thataway.

[QuantumMechanic]

hell!: wi****ia says: polyvinylchloride. As far I recall PVC is one of the more poisonous plastics, probably from the softeners.

Aluminium is famous for being deadly as well as copper.

I seem to recall that some opted for cutlery made of aluminium soon after the date it was discovered, but then switch back.

I heard that some people have a pan for boiling eggs, because of the stuff that comes out the shells.

I think I got cling film confused with Cellophane some how.

Any how I have checked my cling film and it says: (btw it is very clearly marked as safe for fridge, freezer and microwave)

Low density Polyethelene (LDPE), Anti-fog agent, stabiliser, additive.

Which is somewhat reassuring, with some level of quizzicality and yet also strangely non-descript at the same time. I personally _feel_ it is probably a tolerably safe material for cooking with.

the link provided Farelf:

http://www.foodplast.com/index.asp?page=31

I found was quickly exhausted as an authority.

Regarding your doctor experiencing tractor death, if true, then that is an unfortunate end. Since I have smoked many cigarettes then a smoking related disease is on the cards as a 'natural' end point.

Regarding the old way of poaching - seems you and your army possibly have no problem with it (which ever one it is)yet, I expressed the method mentioned with perhaps seemingly unwarranted apparent prejudice, however I would have issues with the old way being stated as broadly 'easy' in juxtaposition. Statistically the number of eggs involved in any given poaching session is less than army sized, I think you would agree with that. As to the average, well....

ponders re watering hole.

[Farelf]

...the link provided Farelf:

http://www.foodplast.com/index.asp?page=31

I found was quickly exhausted as an authority. ...

Well yes, written by the makers apparently. They don't want to say too much in this era of product liability.

...Regarding your doctor experiencing tractor death, if true, then that is an unfortunate end. Since I have smoked many cigarettes then a smoking related disease is on the cards as a 'natural' end point. ...

Just because my middle name is "Mendacity" people assume I might lie? Actually I'm not absolutely certain that killed him but it certainly made him very unwell and nothing further was heard from him. He was, no doubt, scheduled to live forever having sedulously applied advanced professional knowledge to the systematic elimination or avoidance of all known causes of chronic distemper.

...Regarding the old way of poaching - seems you and your army possibly have no problem with it (which ever one it is)yet, I expressed the method mentioned with perhaps seemingly unwarranted apparent prejudice, however I would have issues with the old way being stated as broadly 'easy' in juxtaposition. Statistically the number of eggs involved in any given poaching session is less than army sized, I think you would agree with that. As to the average, well ...

I confess I was of the opinion that "the old way" was not exactly rocket science nor was any special skill involved, be it inherent, learned or practiced, but now you give me cause to reconsider. I can only imagine the effect this might have on those grizzled veterans of those long-ago sculleries should they learn of my possible change of heart (picture silent tears of gratitude welling from suddenly shining eyes and proceeding in halts and starts over craggy and stubbled cheeks - and yes, perhaps the occasional muffled sob).

Ah, there is greatness in you QM, to wring such from those ancient hearts, so savage and morose.

[MIG]

On 4/9/2010 at 10:26 AM, Wazoo said:

Quick instructions;

line a cup with (microwaveable) cling-wrap

crack the egg into the cup

tie the wrap closed above the egg (leaving as little air as possible)

drop the whole package into boiling water and poach for approx. 4 minutes

remove and untie it

unwrap the egg onto a plate

For the real deal and comparisons (small language issue) see How to poach an egg

Tried this, after so many times of trying to beat my MW from overcooking eggs, first go: a lot of the egg white remained on the clingfilm😞, solution: lightly sprayed clingfilm with garlic oil, perfect poached eggs. Great post Wazoo, 😄thank you😄

[Linda Kaufman]

Thanks for the detailed recipe